Fantastic Four Vol 1 312
** ** ** ** Supporting Characters: * ** ** ** ** * Antagonists: * * Other Characters: * Brinkman (Latverian) * Locations: * * ** *** * ** Items: * * * * Vehicles: * | Notes = Continuity Notes * This story is a tie-in to the Fall of the Mutants, while not part of the main stories where either indirectly involved in the events. These events were: ** The X-Men seemingly sacrificing their lives to save the Earth from the Adversary in - ** The New Mutants clash with the anti-mutant organization known as the Right, resulting in the death of their teammate Cypher in - ** And lastly X-Factor's battle with Apocalypse over New York City where they had to fight their former teammate Angel who had been transformed into one of Apocalypse's Horsemen in - ** Other tie-in stories during this event included , , and . All the tie-in stories had a connection to X-Factor's battle with Apocalypse. * Sharon chastises Crystal for suggesting that she could be cured, pointing out all the times that Reed Richards has tried but failed to cure the Thing. The last time Reed tried -- and failed -- to cure the Thing was back in . * Sharon mentions how Reed is no longer part of the team. Reed and his wife Sue took a leave of absence from the group in to spend time with their son Franklin. The couple eventually return to the Fantastic Four in . * Doctor Doom is seeking allies to liberate his kingdom of Latveria because it had been taken over by Kristoff. The events leading up to this are complex and as follows: ** Kristoff is a ward of Doctor Doom, who took the boy in as his own in after his mother was murdered. ** When Doctor Doom was seemingly killed in , his Doombots reprogrammed Kristoff's mind with Doom's memories and personality in . When the Fantastic Four later beat Kristoff they imprisoned him. ** The real Doctor Doom was later restored by the Beyonder in . ** Later in , Doctor Doom kidnapped Franklin to use as a tool against the demon Mephisto to rescue the soul of his mother. In order to get into Doom's castle, the Fantastic Four let Kristoff free. After Mephisto was defeated, Doom was forced out of his own country after admitting he made an error. This convinced the Doombots that Kristoff was the true Doctor Doom, as the real Doom would never admit to making an mistake. * Following his appearance here, Kristoff is next seen in where he battles the Avengers West Coast. * Doom once again makes an offer to cure Sharon as he did . Sharon refuses again, but she will eventually take him up on the offer in . * Black Panther recalls how the United States cut a deal with Doctor Doom in the past. He is referring to the events of where the Fantastic Four were forced to abandon a mission to rescue the Sub-Mariner due to diplomatic relations between the United States and Latveria. * The Panther also compares Doom's situation to what is happening to Captain America at the time of this story. This is are ference to the fact that Steve Rogers had been removed from the title of Captain America at the time and replaced with John Walker in - . This was all part of a complex scheme by the Red Skull to outlaw, tear down and eventually kill his hated enemy. The fruition and failure of that plan eventually comes to a conclusion in . * The Fantastic Four and their allies arrive in New York following X-Factor's battle with Apocalypse which occurred in - . * Crystal mentions that X-Factor as mutants like her estranged husband. Some facts: ** Crystal is referring to Quicksilver, former foe of the original X-Men, and later an Avenger. The two met and fell in love in - and were married in . Neglected by her husband, Crystal later had an affair with real estate agent Norm Webster in - . ** Everyone believed this drove Quicksilver mad, but it was later revealed in that Crystal's cousin Maximus was responsible. Quicksilver was later contained by the Fantastic Four in and turned over to the Inhuman Royal Family in for treatment. ** However, Crystal is incorrect in stating that her husband is a mutant. When he was a child, Quicksilver was actually experimented upon by the High Evolutionary. In order to cover up his work he made it so Quicksilver would always register as a mutant when examined. At the time of this story nobody, not even Quicksilver, was aware of the truth. This was finally revealed years later in . * Johnny recalls that he is one of the few who know that X-Factor were secretly the original X-Men. Some backstory: ** The members of X-Factor were first gathered by Professor X to be his first team of X-Men back in . ** The original Fantastic Four -- which included Johnny and Ben--- first met the X-Men back in and worked with the original team many times. The last time that occurred was back in - when the two groups battled the Z'Nox. ** More recently, in the Fantastic Four revived the body of Marvel Girl after she was pulled out of Jamaica Bay. For years she had been in suspended animation after she was replaced by the Phoenix Force between - . ** The Fantastic Four reunited her with the original X-Men in . They formed X-Factor, who initially posed as mutant hunters in order to gather young mutants and secretly train them. They also operated as the "X-Terminators" when they needed to go out in costume. Ultimately, this cover was blown during the Fall of the Mutants event. * The Beast mentions the reason why he is not fighting is because of a promise he made to Iceman. This pertains to the fact that thanks to the touch of Pestilence in , whenever Beast used his strength he would lose some of his intelligence. By this point it had gotten so bad that Iceman had the Beast promise not to use his strength anymore in . The Beast is eventually cured of his this debility in . * Ben locked up Reed's lab after he took over as leader in . * Doom mentions he bugged the Four Freedoms Plaza and used the devices to build a secret elevator into the building. He apparently did this behind the scenes during his visit to the Four Freedoms in . * Sharon mentions the last trap she and the Thing had to break out of. This is a reference to when they were imprisoned by Fasaud in . * Following his defeat here, Doctor Doom appears next in where he enlists the service of Damage Control and clashes with the Fantastic Four again. * X-Factor next appear in where they celebrate the holidays in their new headquarters. * The Fantastic Four and the Black Panther all have a brief cameo in . | Trivia = | Recommended = | Links = }}